Healthy living
cutting out. “You can’t just replace a steak with pulses. It’s a whole different way of cooking and people want convenience,” Patelou explains. It’s easier to order a vegan burger in a restaurant than it is to learn the art of cooking mapo tofu.
What ENSA is hearing from its members and consumer research is that reducers currently make up the largest share of consumers in the plant-based market. Research conducted by ProVeg supports this, revealing that the most common reason consumers are buying new products is to try something new.
The lure of change
Beyond the novelty of trying something healthier, changing the culture of how we eat is a momentous challenge, and one that varies from place to place. As Carlotte Lucas, corporate engagement manager at GFI, notes, “We are so tradition-bound, food is so ingrained in our culture that giving something up is really hard.” Patelou concurs, as a native Frenchwoman, she fully understands the reality of a reluctant market. “Different consumers have different motivations. People feel very strongly about their diets, it’s part of culture. I’m French, so you can’t imagine how hard it is for us. I’m sure Italians and Polish people feel the same about their food culture.”
Some countries are responding faster than others, but even places where cote de boeuf and crème brulée are intrinsic to the national cuisine, salad and chips no longer cut the mustard as the only vegetarian option. Consumer expectations are growing along with the trend, and those that don’t keep up will eventually stand to lose out.
Shared responsibility
While consumer curiosity and personal health is important, the sustainability drive is the obvious beneficiary here. Livestock agriculture accounts for 51% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Plant- based eating, at least for reducers, may soon become less of a whim and more of a necessity. Lucas notes that, “as the population grows in the future from eight billion people to ten billion, we need to be able to feed everyone and we need to do it in a healthy, sustainable way”.
The onus of saving the planet is one that must be shared between producers and consumers alike. When it comes to consumer demand, that can be – and is being – shaped by a new kind of thoughtful consumer; people who read the ingredients label and take interest in the origin story of their produce. This is particularly true among high-income and young consumers, as well as parents of young children. With an awareness that habits need to change one way or another, Lucas suggests it’s these new consumers who are set to reshape the market. “People
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
aren’t eating meat because of the way it’s made; they are eating it in spite of how it’s made. With plant-based food, people can have the same products, but they are just made in a better way.” Invariably, it’s the younger cohort of principled Gen Z consumers who are going to shape how food is consumed and marketed in the future.“I think these types of people tend to buy with purpose and ethics in mind,” Lucas says. So how can major retailers and manufacturers in the F&B industry make use of this trend? By understanding two things: the mindful consumers of the future, and their own social responsibility as suppliers in making the industry more sustainable. The novelty of offering a ‘beet’ burger or seitan ‘ribs’ on an otherwise meat-based menu is going to attract vegans, mindful consumers and reducers alike, ultimately generating capital for the brand – reputational or otherwise.
Mindful consumers want to know that the brands they buy from align with their values – particularly those in mature markets in developed countries, such as the UK. As for the rest of the manufacturing process? Using sustainable packaging, Patelou observes, is “[another] part of the brand’s reputation” or rather another facet of a strategy to forge a conscientious brand identity. “I think they know that you can’t tell the consumer that you’re sustainable and then not follow through,” Patelou says.
38.9%
The percentage of people who follow a plant-based diet because it makes them feel healthier.
Euromonitor 51% Forbes
Livestock agriculture accounts for more than half of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
“We are so tradition-bound, food is so ingrained in our culture that giving something up is really hard.”
Carlotte Lucas
Action in the shopping aisles Is there a worry that companies are jumping on the trend for the wrong reasons, and might this compromise the long-term potential of the plant-based industry? Lucas doesn’t think it matters. “We have 20, max 30, years to meet our Paris Climate Agreement goals and we are not on track in the slightest. We need everyone to get involved regardless of motivation.” Instead, Lucas thinks meat corporations getting involved in the trend will serve as the boost “that’s really needed to scale up this industry”. In order to reach net-zero by 2050, Patelou is also conscious that the meat and dairy industry needs to take a hit. “When you see the scientific consensus, it confirms that if we don’t change out diet and move to a more plant-based one, we are not going to be able to meet our climate targets.”
One solution, proposed by the UK government, is a tax on meat and dairy products. The measure would cost £242m but would also result in reduced climate
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